Tag Archives : Writing


Free: Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Product Description

As an introduction to story writing and the creative writing process, these visual notes are a great way for students to understand what that process is and what it is not.

Note sheet includes the following topics:

What makes a story good?

What about the plot?

Narrative unity

Building suspense

Includes practical examples as explanations

The resource also includes a chart to help students think about the important elements in their own stories.

Please see the preview for more details.

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Free: Inference Cheat Sheet

Product Description

Do your students insert examples and quotes into their texts without properly analyzing them? Without proper analysis, an essay can sound like a long, drawn-out list written in complete sentences. We teach students to infer and to analyze, but they sometimes forget to incorporate this into their texts and essays.

I have created an “Inference Cheat Sheet” with key inferencing words and phrases to remind students that after inserting a piece of evidence, they need to explain its relevance.

Included are:

  • Two different styles of the at-a-glance “Cheat Sheet.”
  • An inference poster (8.5×11) – as seen on the cover.
  • Two different styles of letters for an inference bulletin board.
  • A copy of ALL the phrases used on the Cheat Sheet to create a bulletin board in class.

I hope that this resource will be helpful to students in your classes.


Poetry Unit for Senior Students
Lord of the Flies Unit – No Prep Required
Hamlet Complete No Prep Unit
Romeo and Juliet – No Prep Unit
Death of a Salesman – No Prep Unit
Frankenstein No Prep Unit
Much Ado About Nothing Unit

Brave New World Student Workbook

Wuthering Heights Student Workbook

It’s teaching Made as Easy as 123!

Total Pages 24 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Hamlet Unit No prep

Product Description

NEW LOOK – This resource now has a new format. Please note that MOST evaluations are still available in Word format for easy modifications.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play.

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with.

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

– An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

-A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (16 pages)

-Study Questions are available in two different formats – Print saver (with all questions on one page – students write their answers on a separate sheet) and Long Form (Where space is provided for students to write their answers directly on the question sheet)

-A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 17 complete lessons. The teacher Guide includes journal and discussion prompts and list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

-18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene) ***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

-A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

-Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

-Option 1: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

-Option 2: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – a creative group presentation (Only available in PDF format)

-Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

-The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 115 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products:

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package

Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
110 pages
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
1 month


Creative Writing Activity

Product Description

TOW (Thought of the Week) is a great way to get students started in the creative writing process. The teacher can use the writing prompts as a writing activity, a one-time evaluation, or as a semester-long evaluation.

Included is:

• 20 weeks of creative writing prompts (3 different choices per week)

• An instruction sheet for students

• An editable due date sheet (in PDF)

• Three editable evaluation sheets (work process, oral, and writing) in Word for easy modifications.

I’ve used these prompts for years now, and every year I’m surprised at how much students enjoy this activity. I thought that it was time I shared.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series:

Introduction to Creative Writing PowerPoint

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative

Buidling Suspense in Creative Writing

Creative Characters in Creative Writing

See the Preview for more details.

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
8 pages
Answer Key
Rubric only
Teaching Duration
1 Semester


Comment Bank

Product Description

Do you run out of meaningful criticism for your students’ high school papers and work?

I created this comment bank because I had the same problem. After a little while, you don’t know what to write on a student’s test.

The Comment Bank has been constructed to save the Language Arts teacher time when offering constructive and helpful comments on students’ evaluations. Marking papers in any Language Arts class is always a lengthy process. Increasingly, teachers are being asked to write more detailed comments to highlight students’ strengths and weaknesses, and sometimes we run out of ideas. Being the vigilant teachers we are, and wanting to help our students achieve their potential is and will always be one of our priorities. To this end, when marking students’ papers, writing down everything we want to say to them about their papers would be a very lengthy process. I have decided to share my personal comment bank with you.

The bank comments on the following areas:

-Structure
-Communication
-The next step
-Mechanics
-Style
-Persuasion
-Analysis

The package contains 7 pages of comments, which are divided by levels of accomplishment A, B, C and D. (levels 100 to 50)

Included in this package are over 120 comments for students. You can get inspiration from these pages to handwrite your comments, or you can do what I do and copy/paste your comments into a word document, print, and staple the comment to the students’ evaluations. This is a real time saver. Parents, students, and school administration LOVE this method of feedback. And, this way, it takes much less time to be much more efficient. I hope you enjoy it!

****************************************************************************
You may also be interested in the following products:
Poetry Through Song Unit
Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)
Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)
Death of a Salesman (No prep required)
Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)
Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)
Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students
Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation
Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit
Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation
Teaching The Essay Package
Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes
It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages 7 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


English Grammar Cheat Sheet

Product Description

This “Cheat Sheet” was designed to help students while writing in English. This at a glance 2 page sheet is colorful and has an easy to find layout to help students remember certain important things while they write.

I allow my students to use this in class when writing a test. This is not a grammar lesson, but it will remind students about the grammar they’ve learned in the past.

Some of the reminders included:

– parts of speech

– transitional words

– quotation marks (how and when to use them)

– basic sentence structure

– spelling tips (plurals of nouns and IE rule)

– puncutaion rules (apostrophe, colon, semicolon

The other side of the page has comma rules:

– with coordinate conjunctions

-with introductory elements

– with other elements (dates, parenthetical expression, nouns in a direct address)

– with adjectives

-with appositives

It also contains tips on things to avoid, such as writing a paragraph shorter than 4 sentences. And, it contains a list of things to do, such as make sure that your paragraphs contain at least 2 pieces of evidence.

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Rubrics: Self Evaluation and teacher assessment rubrics

Product Description

Self-evaluation grids are a great way to guide students in their evaluations. Students will know exactly what is expected of them and will be made responsible for their own success. This package can also easily be changed to be used as peer evaluations.

Included within this document are over 20 different self-evaluation grids.

These self-evaluation grids are also very helpful to teachers:

 Helps the teacher justify the final mark;

Helps the teacher create meaningful evaluation grids;

 Helps to identify students’ weaknesses and strengths;

 Helps parents and students better understand the task required;

 Helps teachers create rubrics for the final evaluation.

This package was created in a Word document in order to be easily modified and changed according to the individual teacher’s needs.

This self-evaluation package contains self-evaluation grids for:

 Newspaper article

 Short story writing (intermediate and senior)

 Essay writing (various different types)

 Essay evaluation rubrics (for teacher –with and without sources)

 Independent study unit

 Research paper

 Skits

 Board game

 Group work

 Opinion piece

 Editorial

 Friendly letter

 Debate

 Movie review

 Journals

 Scrapbook

 Seminar

 Speech

 Riddle writing

You may also be interested in the following products:

Poetry Through Song Unit

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students

Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation

Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package

Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
27 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A



The Three Paragraph Essay

Product Description

This is a great way to teach students how to structure their essay properly.

The Three Paragraph Essay is a resource that is best used for novice essay writers. It is an excellent way to introduce the expository essay. The 2-page pdf document includes simple step-by-step instructions to teach students how to write an effective three paragraph essay.

I recommend using this material with students who are in grades 7-9. It is an efficient and simple way of learning how to write a proper introduction, a one paragraph development, and a conclusion that serves a purpose.

It’s teaching made easy!

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package
Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes
Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)
Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)
Death of a Salesman (No prep required)
Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)
Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)
Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students
Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation
Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Total Pages 2 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Free Inference Cheat Sheet

Product Description

Do your students insert examples and quotes into their texts without properly analyzing them? Without proper analysis, an essay can sound like a long, drawn-out list written in complete sentences. We teach students to infer and to analyze, but they sometimes forget to incorporate this into their texts and essays.

I have created an “Inference Cheat Sheet” with key inferencing words and phrases to remind students that after inserting a piece of evidence, they need to explain its relevance.

Included are:

  • Two different styles of the at-a-glance “Cheat Sheet.”
  • An inference poster (8.5×11) – as seen on the cover.
  • Two different styles of letters for an inference bulletin board.
  • A copy of ALL the phrases used on the Cheat Sheet to create a bulletin board in class.

I hope that this resource will be helpful to students in your classes.


Poetry Unit for Senior Students
Lord of the Flies Unit – No Prep Required
Hamlet Complete No Prep Unit
Romeo and Juliet – No Prep Unit
Death of a Salesman – No Prep Unit
Frankenstein No Prep Unit
Much Ado About Nothing Unit

Brave New World Student Workbook

Wuthering Heights Student Workbook

It’s teaching Made as Easy as 123!

Total Pages 24 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Product Description

In creative writing, it is very important to create strong and dynamic characters. In addition, characters within a story need to have strong motivation, and their interactions with other characters need to add interest and appeal to the reader.

Included within this resource is a visual reminder to students in creative writing when it comes the time to incorporate characters in their work.

Also included is a worksheet that will guide students in creating a strong main character and a second worksheet for orchestrating dynamic and plot-driven secondary characters that will keep the reader interested until the end of the story.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series:

Introduction to Creative Writing PowerPoint

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Buidling Suspense in Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages 3 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Essay Writing Flip Book

Product Description

The Essay Writing Flip Book is a resource that I created for my students for essay writing. Even when they have learned the basics of the essay, they soon forget important details. This guide is an ‘at a glance’ resource where students can quickly find the information they need so that they can concentrate on the bulk of their arguments.

The Flip Book contains:

-Pre-writing: finding a topic, understanding it, writing a thesis statement

-Introduction writing: tips for writing and starting an intro, and proper format

-The body of the essay – paragraph format, how to build arguments, and other tips

-Quotations (2 pages) – how to use quotes in an essay, how to incorporate quotes, in text- citation using MLA format, etc.

-Transitions – how and why to use them, a list of commonly used transitional words and expressions

-MLA format

-Revision Checklist

8 pages of information in all!

It’s teaching made easy!

You may also be interested in the following products:

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package

Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students

Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation

Total Pages 9 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Hamlet Unit No prep

Product Description

NEW LOOK – This resource now has a new format. Please note that MOST evaluations are still available in Word format for easy modifications.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play.

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with.

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

– An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

-A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (16 pages)

-Study Questions are available in two different formats – Print saver (with all questions on one page – students write their answers on a separate sheet) and Long Form (Where space is provided for students to write their answers directly on the question sheet)

-A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 17 complete lessons. The teacher Guide includes journal and discussion prompts and list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

-18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene)***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

-A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

-Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

-Option 1: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

-Option 2: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – a creative group presentation (Only available in PDF format)

-Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

-The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 115 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products:

Poetry Through Song Unit

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students

Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation

Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package

Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
110 pages
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
1 month


The Elevator Short Story Mini Unit

Product Description

“The Elevator” Short Story Mini-Unit is a one-stop-shop for teaching the short story. Other than photocopies, all of the work has been done for you.

This mini-unit is suitable for grades 7 through 10 and includes:

-a copy of the short story

-questions for comprehension

-a plot chart organizer

-activity to help students discover the author’s purpose for writing

-an instructional sheet on how to develop themes (with a practical example)

-an instructional sheet on how to develop a theme in paragraph form

-a graphic organizer to help students organize their paragraphs

-an example of a completed graphic organizer to plan the paragraph

-an example of a paragraph for “The Elevator.”

-a comprehensive answer key for all handouts

-a three-day lesson plan to accompany the story

It’s teaching made easy!

You may also be interested in the following products:

Rain, Rain, Go Away Short Story Mini Unit

Super Hero Themed Parts of Speech Posters (FREE)

FREE Parts of Speech Grammar Circles (Superhero Themed)

Sentences – Grammar Circles for easy and effective grammar

Spelling Flip Book

Rubrics Self-Evaluation

Fish Bowl Evaluation Bundle

Opinion Piece Bundle

How to Write a Paragraph

ELA Literature Study Unit to Use with ANY Work of Literature

Total Pages 16 pages

Answer Key Included

Teaching Duration N/A


Poetry Unit : The Art of Interpretation No Prep

Product Description

Poetry: The Art of Interpretation – is designed to teach students how to interpret, appreciate, and analyze poetry.

There are nine complete lessons (estimated to last approximately 60 minutes), therefore two weeks of lessons.

This complete, no prep unit is a great way to start! This unit includes a student guide, nine detailed lesson plans, two multimedia presentations (no internet connection required), a detailed answer key with annotated poems and answers, and an end of the unit evaluation with a rubric, and answer key.

Just print it and teach it.

Poetry is a very subjective form of art. Some poems you love and others, you hate. What we need to realize is that this is the beauty of poetry. Poetry is not a mystery to be solved. Rather, it is the masterful manipulation of language that has the power to transform the ordinary and to immerse its reader into the world created by the author.

This unit incorporates art to help students understand and appreciate the beauty of words. Also, students will learn how to analyze themes in poetry through paintings and artwork.

This bundle includes:

Each lesson focuses on a different skill set including:

– Knowledge and manipulation of figurative and poetic language

– How to read and understand (appreciate) poetry

– How to analyze poetry

– How to annotate poetry

– How to paraphrase effectively

– How to use symbols

– How to effectively develop themes from poetry

– Creative writing

– Creative activities to learn how to analyze

The unit includes a student packet (20 pages), a teacher packet (with nine complete lessons), and a comprehensive answer key with annotations to the poem (with 17 pages). See the preview for more details.

Poets studied include: (8 poems total)

– Billy Collins – “Introduction to Poetry”

– Anne Marriott – “As You Come in”

– Phyllis Gotlieb – “First Person Demonstrative”

– Edgar Allan Poe – The Raven

– Robert Frost – “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

– John Crowe Ransom -“Janet Waking”

– Woodruff – “I am a Poem that Tells a Lie.”

– Tennyson – “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

The unit also includes:

1 – The teacher guide (Contains nine comprehensive lesson plans to teach the poems included in the unit. EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO TEACH THIS UNIT HAS BEEN DONE FOR YOU. )

2 – The student package (Contains students’ notes, poems, and questions) (20 pages)

3 – The answer key includes annotated poems and answers to all student activities (saving you time – 18 pages).

4 – Included is a test with multiple choice questions as well as a development question. All answers are included. (Word format for easy changes)

5 – 2 PowerPoint presentations – one multimedia presentation to introduce the unit (17 slides) and the second to reinforce the use of imagery and symbolism (19 slides) – NO INTERNET CONNECTION REQUIRED

6 – Images to project or print

7- An end of the unit creative evaluation, which includes clear and concise directions and rubric. (In a Word document for easy modifications)

– An interactive multimedia Jeopardy game to review figurative language and poetic devices (PowerPoint – no internet required)

– A multimedia PowerPoint on how to read and interpret poetry

– A PowerPoint presentation on how to understand symbols and imagery in literature (19 slides)

– A final culminating evaluation with evaluation rubric (left in Word format for easily made modifications)

The unit has been created in such a way as to simplify the teacher’s life. Photocopy the three packages included and don’t worry about it for the rest of the unit. You literally can begin teaching it without any other preparation.

A total of 43 pages + 64 slides are included in this package.

This unit is complete and does all of the thinking for you. All you need to do is to print out and photocopy the student package, and you’re set.

You may also be interested in the following products:

Poetry Through Song Unit

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students

Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation

Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Total Pages
43 pages and 64 slides
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
2 Weeks



Hamlet Unit No prep

Product Description

NEW LOOK – This resource now has a new format. Please note that MOST evaluations are still available in Word format for easy modifications.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play.

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with.

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

– An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

-A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (16 pages)

-Study Questions are available in two different formats – Print saver (with all questions on one page – students write their answers on a separate sheet) and Long Form (Where space is provided for students to write their answers directly on the question sheet)

-A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 17 complete lessons. The teacher Guide includes journal and discussion prompts and list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

-18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene)***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

-A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

-Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

-Option 1: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

-Option 2: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – a creative group presentation (Only available in PDF format)

-Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

-The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 115 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products:

Poetry Through Song Unit

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students

Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation

Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package

Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
110 pages
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
1 month


Creative Writing Activity

Product Description

TOW (Thought of the Week) is a great way to get students started in the creative writing process. The teacher can use the writing prompts as a writing activity, a one-time evaluation, or as a semester-long evaluation.

Included is:

• 20 weeks of creative writing prompts (3 different choices per week)

• An instruction sheet for students

• An editable due date sheet (in PDF)

• Three editable evaluation sheets (work process, oral, and writing) in Word for easy modifications.

I’ve used these prompts for years now, and every year I’m surprised at how much students enjoy this activity. I thought that it was time I shared.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series:

Introduction to Creative Writing PowerPoint

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative

Buidling Suspense in Creative Writing

Creative Characters in Creative Writing

See the Preview for more details.

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
8 pages
Answer Key
Rubric only
Teaching Duration
1 Semester


English Grammar Cheat Sheet

Product Description

This “Cheat Sheet” was designed to help students while writing in English. This at a glance 2 page sheet is colorful and has an easy to find layout to help students remember certain important things while they write.

I allow my students to use this in class when writing a test. This is not a grammar lesson, but it will remind students about the grammar they’ve learned in the past.

Some of the reminders included:

– parts of speech

– transitional words

– quotation marks (how and when to use them)

– basic sentence structure

– spelling tips (plurals of nouns and IE rule)

– puncutaion rules (apostrophe, colon, semicolon

The other side of the page has comma rules:

– with coordinate conjunctions

-with introductory elements

– with other elements (dates, parenthetical expression, nouns in a direct address)

– with adjectives

-with appositives

It also contains tips on things to avoid, such as writing a paragraph shorter than 4 sentences. And, it contains a list of things to do, such as make sure that your paragraphs contain at least 2 pieces of evidence.

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Hamlet Unit No prep

Product Description

NEW LOOK – This resource now has a new format. Please note that MOST evaluations are still available in Word format for easy modifications.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play.

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with.

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

– An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

-A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (16 pages)

-Study Questions are available in two different formats – Print saver (with all questions on one page – students write their answers on a separate sheet) and Long Form (Where space is provided for students to write their answers directly on the question sheet)

-A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 17 complete lessons. The teacher Guide includes journal and discussion prompts and list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

-18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene)***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

-A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

-Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

-Option 1: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

-Option 2: Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – a creative group presentation (Only available in PDF format)

-Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

-The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 115 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:

Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products:

Poetry Through Song Unit

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students

Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation

Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package

Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
110 pages
Answer Key
Included with rubric
Teaching Duration
1 month


The Elevator Short Story Mini Unit

Product Description

“The Elevator” Short Story Mini-Unit is a one-stop-shop for teaching the short story. Other than photocopies, all of the work has been done for you.

This mini-unit is suitable for grades 7 through 10 and includes:

-a copy of the short story

-questions for comprehension

-a plot chart organizer

-activity to help students discover the author’s purpose for writing

-an instructional sheet on how to develop themes (with a practical example)

-an instructional sheet on how to develop a theme in paragraph form

-a graphic organizer to help students organize their paragraphs

-an example of a completed graphic organizer to plan the paragraph

-an example of a paragraph for “The Elevator.”

-a comprehensive answer key for all handouts

-a three-day lesson plan to accompany the story

It’s teaching made easy!

You may also be interested in the following products:

Rain, Rain, Go Away Short Story Mini Unit

Super Hero Themed Parts of Speech Posters (FREE)

FREE Parts of Speech Grammar Circles (Superhero Themed)

Sentences – Grammar Circles for easy and effective grammar

Spelling Flip Book

Rubrics Self-Evaluation

Fish Bowl Evaluation Bundle

Opinion Piece Bundle

How to Write a Paragraph

ELA Literature Study Unit to Use with ANY Work of Literature

Total Pages 16 pages

Answer Key Included

Teaching Duration N/A


Free Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Product Description

As an introduction to story writing and the creative writing process, these visual notes are a great way for students to understand what that process is and what it is not. 

Note sheet includes the following topics: 
What makes a story good?
What about the plot?
Narrative unity
Building suspense
Includes practical examples as explanations

The resource also includes a chart to help students think about the important elements in their own stories. 

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series: 
Introduction to Creative Writing PowerPoint
Creative Writing Activity
Buidling Suspense in Creative Writing
Creative Characters in Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages 2 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A



Essay Writing Flip Book

Product Description

The Essay Writing Flip Book is a resource that I created for my students for essay writing. Even when they have learned the basics of the essay, they soon forget important details. This guide is an ‘at a glance’ resource where students can quickly find the information they need so that they can concentrate on the bulk of their arguments.

The Flip Book contains:

-Pre-writing: finding a topic, understanding it, writing a thesis statement

-Introduction writing: tips for writing and starting an intro, and proper format

-The body of the essay – paragraph format, how to build arguments, and other tips

-Quotations (2 pages) – how to use quotes in an essay, how to incorporate quotes, in text- citation using MLA format, etc.

-Transitions – how and why to use them, a list of commonly used transitional words and expressions

-MLA format

-Revision Checklist

8 pages of information in all!

It’s teaching made easy!

You may also be interested in the following products:

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package

Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)

Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)

Death of a Salesman (No prep required)

Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)

Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)

Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students

Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation

Total Pages 9 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Creative Writing Activity

Product Description

TOW (Thought of the Week) is a great way to get students started in the creative writing process. The teacher can use the writing prompts as a writing activity, a one-time evaluation, or as a semester-long evaluation.

Included is:

• 20 weeks of creative writing prompts (3 different choices per week)

• An instruction sheet for students

• An editable due date sheet (in PDF)

• Three editable evaluation sheets (work process, oral, and writing) in Word for easy modifications.

I’ve used these prompts for years now, and every year I’m surprised at how much students enjoy this activity. I thought that it was time I shared.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series:

Introduction to Creative Writing PowerPoint

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative

Buidling Suspense in Creative Writing

Creative Characters in Creative Writing

See the Preview for more details.

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages 8 pages

Answer Key Rubric only

Teaching Duration 1 Semester


The Three Paragraph Essay

Product Description

This is a great way to teach students how to structure their essay properly. 

The Three Paragraph Essay is a resource that is best used for novice essay writers. It is an excellent way to introduce the expository essay. The 2-page pdf document includes simple step-by-step instructions to teach students how to write an effective three paragraph essay.

I recommend using this material with students who are in grades 7-9. It is an efficient and simple way of learning how to write a proper introduction, a one paragraph development, and a conclusion that serves a purpose.

It’s teaching made easy!

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package
Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes
Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)
Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)
Death of a Salesman (No prep required)
Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)
Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)
Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students
Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation
Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Total Pages 2 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Free Inference Cheat Sheet

Product Description

Do your students insert examples and quotes into their texts without properly analyzing them? Without proper analysis, an essay can sound like a long, drawn-out list written in complete sentences. We teach students to infer and to analyze, but they sometimes forget to incorporate this into their texts and essays.

I have created an “Inference Cheat Sheet” with key inferencing words and phrases to remind students that after inserting a piece of evidence, they need to explain its relevance.

Included are:

  • Two different styles of the at-a-glance “Cheat Sheet.”
  • An inference poster (8.5×11) – as seen on the cover.
  • Two different styles of letters for an inference bulletin board.
  • A copy of ALL the phrases used on the Cheat Sheet to create a bulletin board in class.

I hope that this resource will be helpful to students in your classes.

Poetry Through Song Unit
Poetry Unit for Intermediate students
Poetry Unit for Senior Students
Poetry: The Art of Interpretation
Lord of the Flies Unit – No Prep Required
Hamlet Complete No Prep Unit
Romeo and Juliet – No Prep Unit
Death of a Salesman – No Prep Unit
Frankenstein No Prep Unit
Much Ado About Nothing Unit

It’s teaching Made as Easy as 123!

Total Pages 24 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Rubrics: Self Evaluation and teacher assessment rubrics

Product Description

Self-evaluation grids are a great way to guide students in their evaluations. Students will know exactly what is expected of them and will be made responsible for their own success. This package can also easily be changed to be used as peer evaluations.


Included within this document are over 20 different self-evaluation grids.

These self-evaluation grids are also very helpful to teachers:
 Helps the teacher justify the final mark;
Helps the teacher create meaningful evaluation grids;
 Helps to identify students’ weaknesses and strengths;
 Helps parents and students better understand the task required;
 Helps teachers create rubrics for the final evaluation.

This package was created in a Word document in order to be easily modified and changed according to the individual teacher’s needs.

This self-evaluation package contains self-evaluation grids for:
 Newspaper article
 Short story writing (intermediate and senior)
 Essay writing (various different types)
 Essay evaluation rubrics (for teacher –with and without sources)
 Independent study unit
 Research paper
 Skits
 Board game
 Group work
 Opinion piece
 Editorial
 Friendly letter
 Debate
 Movie review
 Journals
 Scrapbook
 Seminar
 Speech
 Riddle writing

You may also be interested in the following products: 
Poetry Through Song Unit
Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)
Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)
Death of a Salesman (No prep required)
Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)
Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)
Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students
Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation
Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit
Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation
Teaching The Essay Package
Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages
27 pages
Answer Key
N/A
Teaching Duration
N/A


Creating Characters in Creative Writing

Product Description

In creative writing, it is very important to create strong and dynamic characters. In addition, characters within a story need to have strong motivation, and their interactions with other characters need to add interest and appeal to the reader.
Included within this resource is a visual reminder to students in creative writing when it comes the time to incorporate characters in their work.

Also included is a worksheet that will guide students in creating a strong main character and a second worksheet for orchestrating dynamic and plot-driven secondary characters that will keep the reader interested until the end of the story.
Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series: 
Introduction to Creative Writing PowerPoint
Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing
Creative Writing Activity
Buidling Suspense in Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages 3 pages
Answer Key N/A
Teaching Duration N/A


Free Outline Essay Writing Package

Product Description

The Outline package has been devised as a resource to help guide students develop their essay writing skills. Seeing as the outline is the skeleton of a student’s essay, this document has been devised to help students organize their ideas within the essay format. 

The document is created using a Word format for ease of use and modification. 

It’s teaching made easy!

Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation

Teaching The Essay Package
Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes
Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)
Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)
Death of a Salesman (No prep required)
Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)
Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)
Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students
Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation
Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit

Total Pages 11 pages

Answer Key N/A

Teaching Duration N/A


Building Suspense in Creative Writing

Product Description

In creative writing, the only thing that will keep the reader engaged in your story until the last page is by building effective suspense. This resource includes a visual chart of the different types of suspense to include in writing and includes relevant examples and tips to achieve it.

In addition, also included in this resource are two suspense building activities and 4 pages of notes on how to effectively build suspense within any type of story.

Please see the preview for more details.

You may also be interested in the following products that are part of my Creative Writing Series:

Introduction to Creative Writing PowerPoint

Exploring the Elements of Fiction in Creative Writing

Creative Writing Activity

Creative Characters in Creative Writing

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages 6 pages
Answer Key N/A
Teaching Duration N/A


The Elevator Short Story Mini Unit

Product Description

“The Elevator” Short Story Mini-Unit is a one-stop-shop for teaching the short story. Other than photocopies, all of the work has been done for you.

This mini-unit is suitable for grades 7 through 10 and includes:

-a copy of the short story

-questions for comprehension

-a plot chart organizer

-activity to help students discover the author’s purpose for writing

-an instructional sheet on how to develop themes (with a practical example)

-an instructional sheet on how to develop a theme in paragraph form

-a graphic organizer to help students organize their paragraphs

-an example of a completed graphic organizer to plan the paragraph

-an example of a paragraph for “The Elevator.”

-a comprehensive answer key for all handouts

-a three-day lesson plan to accompany the story

It’s teaching made easy!

You may also be interested in the following products:

Rain, Rain, Go Away Short Story Mini Unit

Super Hero Themed Parts of Speech Posters (FREE)

FREE Parts of Speech Grammar Circles (Superhero Themed)

Sentences – Grammar Circles for easy and effective grammar

Spelling Flip Book

Rubrics Self-Evaluation

Fish Bowl Evaluation Bundle

Opinion Piece Bundle

How to Write a Paragraph

ELA Literature Study Unit to Use with ANY Work of Literature

Total Pages 16 pages

Answer Key Included

Teaching Duration N/A


Hamlet Unit No prep

Product Description

NEW: You can now download this unit in Word format to customize and save it. All documents are available in PDF and Word formats.

One entire month of planning done for you – I dare you to enjoy Shakespeare.

I love teaching Shakespeare’s plays, and I want you to love it too. I’ve been teaching and improving this unit for over ten years. All of the thinking has been done for you. I love annotating my plays and books. I’ve taken all of the annotations made in my play over the years and incorporated them in a guide to help you guide students and help students understand. Many people (including teachers) get overwhelmed with Shakespeare because of the language. This unit has been created with the student in mind. The activities are thorough, but simple enough for students to understand and enjoy the play. 

This unit has everything a teacher needs to teach Hamlet. Just photocopy and teach. Seriously it’s that easy. There’s no longer a need for hours of research and piecing together bits of information and activity sheets you don’t know what to do with. 

This is a whole, complete unit, from scene summaries, important notes and annotations notes to help students understand what they are reading. I have also included an introduction to the play, a student guide, a teacher guide with detailed lesson plans, quizzes, a creative assignment, and tests (all with answers and evaluation grids), and a comprehensive answer key. Everything has its place and teaches a specific skill.

The unit is appropriate for students in grades 10, 11 and 12.

The unit includes :

– An attractive, interactive, multimedia PowerPoint presentation introducing the play (17 slides)

-A Student Study Guide (with activities, Act, and scene questions…) and various activities (14 pages)

-A Teacher Guide (with detailed, comprehensive lessons, unit plan, and additional notes to guide students.) -9 pages and 16 complete lessons. The teacher Guide also includes links to the audiobook (the exact time to cue the audio), AND it includes a list of speaking roles if reading out loud in class)to help with time management and organization.

-18 pages of comprehensive scene summaries and important notes for each scene (annotations for each scene)***THIS IS A TEACHER FAVORITE!

A creative Hamlet Guess Who? Game to help students understand the characters. (What’s fun about this game is that it can be played from the beginning of the play right to the end, and students’ answers will change depending on the act they are reading.) LOTS OF FUN!

-A comprehensive answer key for all questions and activities. (24 pages)

-Comprehension quiz on Acts 1 and 2 in Word format for easy modifications (with evaluation grid) and answer key.

-Mid-play evaluation – The Parody – creative writing and analysis (in Word format for easy modifications – with evaluation grid)

-Summary guide (highlighting the significant events from each scene with important analytical information) – Throughout my years of teaching this play, I have amounted excellent notes and annotations, listing the most significant actions throughout each scene. I have retyped these annotations to help you teach the play, so your students will understand it (and so will you). (18 pages)

-The culminating evaluation includes three different versions of the final unit test with evaluation grid and answer key (in Word for easy modifications)

Includes a total of 109 pages.

Check out this sketchnote resource to further student comprehension:
Hamlet Scene Summary Visual Notebook

You may also be interested in the following products: 
Poetry Through Song Unit
Lord of the Flies Unit (No prep required)
Hamlet Unit (No prep – Complete Unit)
Death of a Salesman (No prep required)
Frankenstein (No prep – Complete Unit)
Poetry Unit for Senior Students (NO PREP)
Poetry Unit for Intermediate Students
Poetry Unit: The Art of Interpretation
Romeo and Juliet – A No Prep Unit
Thesis Writing Activity with PowerPoint Presentation
Teaching The Essay Package
Essay Evaluation Comments with Drop Down Boxes

It’s teaching made easy!

Total Pages 109 pages

Answer Key Included with rubric

Teaching Duration 1 month